"I know," Xandria said miserably, collapsing into a bean bag miserably. "I mean, that's good for us, because if they had, we wouldn't be here, but...I'm almost starting to feel like these fish are my babies, and I've got to do something to help them."

Irene slowly lowered herself into a nearby bean bag chair. Her brain fumbled around for a few moments--which felt more like minutes--trying desperately to think of something worth saying. She couldn't think of anything useful, or half-way comforting, to try to say. She really wanted to help Xandria, she just wished she knew how.

"Is there anything we can do? I mean, is there any way to do it manually, or...? Do we even know where the system is?"

N-Web sis of stardf, _Rillian_, & jerendaProud to be Sirya the Madcap Siren

"I do--it's underground, the opposite way from the way we came in. It's a huge room with a ton of stuff and pipes and things. Even if there was a way to force water through the pipes, it would take a lot of manpower. I can't do that, and, well, I don't really think you can, either, no offense. I've looked at it before. It's a perfect system because it recycles a lot of water, cleans it, and draws fresh water. It's just...I'm not smart enough to figure it out."

Xandria wasn't wrong--Irene doubted her powers would help at all. Her powers could be so convincing as to feel real, on occasion, but... she couldn't think of any way to set the machines back in motion. They were going to have to fix this the normal way.

"Maybe we could stop by the library, see if they have any books on engineering or mechanics? I mean... it's no replacement for someone who actually knows what they're doing, but maybe we'll stumble onto some brilliant idea while we're there."

N-Web sis of stardf, _Rillian_, & jerendaProud to be Sirya the Madcap Siren

"Yeah, we'd have to wait until tonight, though," Xandria said, running her hands through her hair as she gazed at one of the jellyfish. "And even if we did figure it out, we don't have any of the tools that we'd need."

Xandria sighed and shook her head.

"I don't know. I guess we should just think about it some more and try to figure it out sometime soon."

~~

Xandria studied herself in her makeshift mirror, turning this way and that. She was wearing the short, fitted light blue dress she had picked up, and she did think it looked stunning. But...was it too much? Oh, right--and there was that other issue: shoes. So far, she hadn't been wearing them, mainly because she didn't have any. But showing up in a short dress with no shoes...well, it was kind of weird. And it was a rather short dress....

Yoga pants. Of course. Xandria started shifting through the piled up clothes, finally pulling out a pair of long black...or maybe the white stretch denim would look better?

"Oh, bother," Xandria grumbled. "This is far more effort than it is worth."

After trying on both pants and then trying both with the peach dress, she finally settled on the blue with the white. She'd have to make a stop to purchase some sandals on her way to meet with Jason. She gave herself a little nod in the mirror, grabbed her bag, and took off.

((OOC: Alrighty. This post is literally a year after Lady C's last post. I was feeling drawn to write Allee in SN, and then I went in the thread and happened to take note of the date. Insane, right? Here I am, finally, with a continuation of this plotline. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details of what we had planned, so let me know if I need to edit or you need to plot with me. Otherwise, here you are!))

It took a moment for Allee to register what was going on. More than a moment, actually... probably several. She'd yelled she was innocent, and that's when the guy had come, running in, defending her, saying "get behind me!" Allee wasn't sure what was going on, but she snapped back to reality and did as he asked, grateful that someone was helping her out at least. She watched with wide eyes as he took a defensive position, then stuck his hand straight into the piece of machinery and pulled. When he withdrew his hand, there were a bunch of loud popping noises. In his fist was a mess of wires. Electricity crackled.

For a few moments, none of them said anything. The only noise was their breathing, Allee's especially as she tried to calm down and process what she just saw.

"Oh," she finally said. "If I had known that was the trick..."

The guy turned to look at her. His face immediately blushed pink, which made Allee blush. His mouth twitched, and ... oh. Oh. He had dimples.

He launched into his stammering explanation. "Um, hi. I'm... Gosh, I'm sorry about that. I don't... That wasn't... Um... That wasn't supposed to happen. I don't know how... Gosh I'm sorry. Um... Are you alright?"

Allee laughed. "It's... it's alright. I'm confused by everything that's been going on, anyway. At least you breaking that... thing... makes sense. Thanks for, um, saving me." She shrugged. "I'm Allee. And yourself?" She looked around her, at the metal walls and ceiling and the harsh lighting. "I just... I just need answers. What is this place?"